


All about a pencil

by AlyCalypso



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Meetings, M/M, Tiny Ian and tiny Mickey, based on that recent promo video and everything we know about them, general Shameless themes and language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21596617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyCalypso/pseuds/AlyCalypso
Summary: Ian and Mickey are in 3rd grade, and they both have different feelings toward one another.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Comments: 8
Kudos: 71





	All about a pencil

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw that promo video of Ian and Mickey talking about their relationship in prison and Ian saying he first talked to Mickey in 3rd grade, I knew I just HAD to write the fic.
> 
> I also pondered a lot over that off-hand comment Ian made in 10x02 about Mickey not knowing how to read. I thought back on the whole show and, yeah, maybe Mickey had difficulties reading. He probably knows how to read on a basic level, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was something that's hard for him considering he left school so early and dismissed the idea of reading so easily several times in the show. So yeah, I decided to include that too.

**_Ian_ **

Ian didn't have many friends, not to say any friends. There was Jason Richards, with whom he'd been paired up a few times in class, and Porter Coleman who sat with him at lunch once or twice, but all in all his best and only friend was his older brother Lip, who didn't have a lot of friends either, just a few kids he hadn't pissed off yet with his know-it-all attitude. Fiona said it was because nobody had friends in the Southside, only people that weren't their enemies, but Ian thought it was because their family was so fleeting: he couldn't count on the fingers of both his hands how many times he had missed school, between the times Frank and Monica decided to take them on a little road trip and the times Fiona forgot to wake her brothers up in the morning because she had spent the whole night taking care of a crying Debbie or Carl.

Among all the important life skills Fiona had taught them, one of the lessons that stuck to Ian's mind was “Don't get mix up with the Milkoviches”. One of the oldest kids was in Fiona's grade and she had told her little siblings many times not to interact with them. At first, Ian had asked why, sure their dad was scary, but they were all Southside, not one family was worth less than the other, but Fiona had just repeated not to do it. Ian thought it was too bad, because the Milkovich girl had been in his class for a couple of years and she seemed nice, she could have been his friend, she was just as lonely as he was. There was also a Milkovich kid in Lip's class and all Lip could say about him is that he was dumb, proof being he was held back in third grade and ended up with Ian's age group. Ian had seen him arguing with his little sister on the first day of class, the boy always looked angry. Ian could understand that, he wasn't sure he would appreciate suddenly being in Lip's class. Don't get him wrong, he loved his brother, but being in class with him would make him feel like an idiot compared to how smart Lip was. So, with Fiona's advice in mind, and the always annoyed and scary scowl on the Milkovich boy's face, Ian tried his best to stay away from him.

Until one day, Ian found himself sitting right behind him in class and suddenly realized he had forgotten his pencil at home. He didn't want to ask, but he didn't see a way out: there was nobody sitting behind him, the boy on his left was sleeping, and the girl on his right was chatting with her friends, ignoring him, so Ian had no choice but to ask the Milkovich boy sitting in front of him if he had a pencil. Having the scowl directed at him made Ian a little uncomfortable, but he swallowed slowly and kept his eyes on the other boy. He didn't see the pencil coming until it was hitting him in the face and the Milkovich boy said he'd stab him if he ever talked to him again. Ian grabbed the offending object that had landed on the floor, muttered a small “thank you” and decided not to test the threat further by never addressing the Milkovich boy again, which wasn't hard since he dropped out of school not long after that, and was kicked out of their Little League team for pissing on first base.

Ian started to think Fiona might have been right, the Milkoviches were not people he wanted in his life, and for the next few years he made no effort to interact with them again. That is, until he was in high school and their pervert history teacher made inappropriate advances to an underage Mandy Milkovich and Ian had no choice but to rescue her.

******

**_Mickey_ **

Mickey wasn't dumb but apparently the world – and by that he meant his dad and the shitty public school system – had decided he was, so when he was held back a year to end up in Mandy's class, of course he was angry, who wouldn't have been? Being in the same grade as his little sister was humiliating and gave everybody a chance to remind him how stupid he was, from his teachers to his older brothers, and his dad, who kept repeating it over and over and over again until Mickey knew nothing else. He wasn't dumb. Yes, maybe he had difficulties reading, and maybe it was because no teacher or parent ever took the time to really work on that skill with him, but he was good at math. He knew numbers and he knew what to do with them and, to be honest, it was the one thing he could thank his dad for, if he hadn't forced him to “join his business” so young, maybe Mickey wouldn't have been so good at math, and that was really the only thing he had going on for him. That and his fists, he was good at fighting too, but that wasn't really a skill school encouraged or cheered for, so math it was. But none of his piece of shit teachers deserved to know how good he was with numbers, they had done nothing for him, he wasn't about to give away his secret ability so easily. Sometimes at night, instead of doing his homework and going over the stupid reading assignment he had to do, he took his older brother's math textbooks and did some exercises, just for himself. It made him feel like a superhero with his secret powers that he used only in the dead of the night, without anybody else knowing about it. But then, when the night was over and he was back in his kitchen, counting how much money his dad had made that day, and how many ounces of drug he needed to sell, Mickey felt like maybe his power didn't make him a superhero, but just another Milkovich screw up for life.

There was one other thing that pissed him off at school, other than being told he was stupid ten times a day, and that was that annoying skinny ginger Gallagher. He was too soft and too nice and Mickey hated that he wanted to look at him all the time. He never talked to him – what was the point? nobody wanted to be friends with a good-for-nothing Milkovich – but he knew he was there, around, always aware of his presence. That really pissed Mickey off. Why did he have to know where Gallagher was at all time during the day? Why did his brain make these little notes of Gallagher's schedule? What was the point? Mickey saw him at school, saw him on their Little League team, saw him around the neighborhood... He wanted to punch him in the face every time, but he never did, never could, and he really, really, hated that.

One day, the idiot ginger decided to talk to him, asked him for a pencil in class. Mickey wasn't an asshole, he gave it to him – or rather threw it at him – but he had to add a threat to it, because Gallagher could never talk to him again, that wasn't okay. And it wasn't long after that that Mickey decided that he was done with school, he didn't need that shit anymore, he would only go back when his father would ask him to in order to sell drugs, and that was it. He also screw up his Little League spot, not necessarily on purpose, but the commissioner was being a dick that day so Mickey decided to show him and pissing on first base felt like a good idea in the heat of the moment. Plus, it was one less place he would see Gallagher at.

It had to be given to him, if anything, Mickey was determined: when he promised he wouldn't talk to Gallagher again, he stood by it. That is, until Mandy came crying home one day saying that stupid ginger had raped her. Mickey had no choice but to show him not to mess with a Milkovich, really, he had no choice.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and/or comments. And you can also come talk and share with me on my [tumblr](http://ilostmylifeonline.tumblr.com/), it's always appreciated. :)


End file.
